Marcus and I are an interfaith family. While I don’t identify with any organized religion, I have grown up celebrating Christmas each December. As I have spent this past year being geographically much closer with Marcus’ family than my own, I have found myself learning about and sharing in many of the customs of Judaism. Many of the things I have learned have been extremely interesting, and I’m not just saying that! I find learning about the traditions and customs of other cultures fascinating, so I asked Marcus to help me share some lessons with you! We wrote this post together, and we hope you learn something new!

Note: These facts come from our own knowledge and research of Jewish customs. If your own experience or knowledge differs, please share! We would love to hear others’ perspectives.

Judaism is old. Really old. While much of the religion closely represents the nascent Judaism of over 3,000 years ago, some aspects are now completely foreign, vestiges of a time when the Temple still stood in Jerusalem.

The Temple was the stage for the holiest practices of ancient Judaism. Destroyed in 586 BC after being first built in 957 BC, it was rebuilt beginning in 538 BC. The Second Temple, as it was known, was effectively defiled by the ruling Greeks. This, predictably, enraged the Jews, and spurred the Maccabeean revolt. Led by Judah Maccabee, they reclaimed the ancient land of Judea and restored the Temple.

The word Hanukkah is roughly translated to “dedication” in Hebrew, signifying the rededication of the Temple.

Of course, this is all well and good, but what’s the miracle, here? Well, when the Temple was reclaimed by Jewish soliders, there was only a single container of kosher oil to light the Temple’s menorah. A single container typically lasted a single day, but this oil burned for eight days, long enough for new oil to be pressed.

1.There is no right or wrong way to spell “Hanukkah” – in English, at least.

Hebrew is an interesting language. Read right to left, one other component unfamiliar to those of us who grew up speaking English is the “chh” sound. Pronounced poorly, it’s vaguely akin to the sound a cat makes when coughing up a hairball, but for native Hebrew speakers, it’s a very abbreviated noise that sounds surprisingly natural in the flow of speech. The “chh” sound comes from the letter chet. Chet looks like this: ח

The reason Hanukkah is alternatively spelled Chanukkah is because the word begins with the letter chet, rather than the letter heh (ה), one of the letters on the dreidel, and a letter which makes the traditional H sound.

Ultimately, transliteration isn’t an exact science. Purists will opt to spell the holiday’s name “Chanukkah,” but purer purists will forgo the English entirely and choose חֲנֻכָּה

2. Hanukkah is not the most religiously significant Jewish holiday.

Far from it, in fact. Hanukkah is merely the most widely known Jewish holiday due to its proximity to the Christian holiday of Christmas.

3.The date of Hanukkah each year is determined by the “lunisolar” calendar.

Judaism precedes the modern (ish) Julian calendar by over 1000 years. By the time the Romans were figuring out leap years and roads in 45 BC, Jews had been relying on their own lunisolar calendar to identify their holidays for centuries. The lunisolar calendar is keyed to lunar phases, themselves subject to the vagaries of orbits and suffering from “error” of 11-12 days a year. So while Hanukkah started last night this year, next year it will begin on December 20th, and the year after that, November 27th (!). However, the first night of Hanukkah is always on the 25th day of the month Kislev in the Hebrew calendar. This has caused much consternation for American Jewish kids who’d really prefer that Hanukkah overlap with Christmas and winter break.

Ironically, this proximity to Christmas and subsequent secularization of the holiday runs directly opposite to the beginnings of the holiday, a revolt against Jewish assimilation and secularization. However, most Jews view this in a positive light: the ability of Jews to assimilate into American society is a profound indicator of religious tolerance.

4.We don’t light the menorah on Hanukkah.

On Hanukkah, Jews light the candles on a hanukia (pronounce ha-noo-kee-uh), though many people incorrectly refer to it as a menorah. The word menorah refers to the original, seven-branched candelabrum housed in the Jewish Temple. Modern hanukiot are modeled after the menorah and images of the menorah often appear in Hanukkah celebrations, but candles are always lit on a hanukia!

5. There are special rules for how to light and display the Hanukkah candles.

Hanukiot have places for nine candles: one for each night of Hanukkah and one for the shamash, or servant candle, usually placed at a different height or position. The shamash is lit first, then used to light the remaining candles. The shamash is used because the Hanukkah candles are meant for viewing only and should not be used for any other purpose, such as lighting a household at night.

Hanukkah candles should be placed from right to left, as the Hebrew language is read, but they should be lit from left to right, in order to pay honor to the newer thing first. You can see on our hanukia from last night, the first night’s candle is placed on the far right. Hanukkah candles are meant to be displayed in a window or near a door so that passersby may see them and be reminded of the miracle of Hanukkah. (Exceptions to this rule have been made in certain places or in times that Jews faced religious persecution.) The Hanukkah candles should be left to burn for at least one half hour, though many people leave them to burn down the whole way.

6. Jewish people eat fried foods on Hanukkah to symbolize the miracle of the oil.

The miracle of Hanukkah was the holy oil lasting for eight days. While many Jewish holidays are traditionally somber occasions, on Hanukkah, Jews eat sweet foods fried in oil like latkes and sufganiyot, or filled fried donuts, to commemorate the sweetness of their victory and the miraculous oil. Plus, who doesn’t love donuts?

7. Gifts are not traditionally given on Hanukkah.

Gift-giving is not a traditional part of Hanukkah, but is likely the result of Hanukkah’s proximity to Christmas. The only traditional gift given on Hanukkah is Hanukkah gelt, or coins. Today, Hanukkah gelt is represented by chocolate coins, but historically, Hanukkah gelt was money, given to the children of the families.

9. “Latke” and “gelt” are Yiddish words, not Hebrew.

That’s all. : )

10. Dreidels in the US are different from dreidels in Israel.

Children often play with dreidels during Hanukkah. A dreidel is a four-sided top with one Hebrew letter on each side. Here is the US, dreidels have the letters nun נ (none), gimmel ג (all), heh ה (half), and shin ש (put). These letters also stand for the phrase “nes gadol haya sham,” “A great miracle happened there.” In Israel, shin is replaced by the letter pay פ, to represent the phrase “A great miracle happened here.”

19 Responses to Ten Things You Might Not Know about Hanukkah

I never knew it is technically not called a menorah, I only ever remember my friends (even orthodox) ones calling it a menorah! Also, now I know why I have such fond memories of tons of fried food during Hanukkah! This makes so much sense, now.

Haha, that line is alll Marcus. Someday you’ll meet him and you’ll get it, that’s exactly his humor. And yes! It is snowing, it’s a WP feature this December. I know it annoys a lot of people but I LOVE it and won’t turn it off.

My husband was raised Jewish and I grew up going to temple with friends, but even I learned something new! It makes me laugh when my friends say “What are you guys doing for Hanukkah” because they dont realize that its not the Jewish version of Christmas!

I’ll never forget one year in elementary school when a mom came in and did a little Hanukkah presentation for the class. There was one Jewish girl at our school in Central CA at the time.

Then, I moved to LA right before middle school and pretty much all of my friends were Jewish. I learned so much and attended so many fun Bar/Bat Mitzvahs and Hanukkah parties. I’ve actually been craving latkes this year, but I think I might cheat and get the precooked ones from Trader Joe’s. Yummm.

“We don’t light the menorah on Hanukkah.” Wow! I never heard of the hanukia. Yaz and Sonny have let me down. Hope Marcus is ready for our Christmas traditions like Chex Mix and Home Alone. See you Friday!

This was a great post Kir and Marcus. I have a question, Is the number of candles on a menorah different from the number of candles on a hanukia? Is the shape different? Jon fixed someone’s glass “menorah” a few months ago, and it had a weird number of candle spots, I think 9? I dunno, just curious because Jon’s (Jewish) grandmother was appalled by this imposter and kept saying “It’s not a menorah Jonathan”

The menorah was the original candle holder (it had seven candles) used in ancient times in the Jewish Temple – you can think of it as what was in use during the “first” Hanukkah. The Temple was since destroyed, as was the menorah.

Hanukiot have nine candles, so maybe that’s what Jon’s grandmother meant? That it’s not a menorah, it’s a hanukia? Otherwise, there is another type of candle holder that is used on Shabbat, but I’m not sure how many candles it holds or what it looks like.

Kira’s right. The Menorah had 7 branches and was used as a holy candelabra in the Temple. The Hanukiah we light on Hannukah has 9 branches. 8 of them represent the 8 days for which the miraculous oil burned, and the 9th holds our Shamash, the servant candle that lights the other 8.

There are actually several rules and guidelines about what a Hanukiah can look like, mostly revolving around how the candle holders are laid out. It is possible the Hanukiah she saw was technically not kosher. Also, even though everyone calls them all menorahs because it’s easier to say in English, nothing with 9 branches is technically a menorah anyway.

Thanks Ladies this clarified alot. I can’t remember how many candles the one jon fixed had but I know it was a circular shape. Also in Jon’s grandma’s presence I asked if the “menorah” she held was a menorah or a Hanukiah and she didn’t even know what a Hanukiah was. I slowly shut my mouth and said I must be mistaken, because really- who I am to tell an old Jewish woman about a Hanukiah vs. Menorah? :)